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Fought in Co Cork this day 410 years ago on Christmas Eve 1601 the Battle of Kinsale was one the greatest watersheds in Irish history. After...

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Gaelic Ring-Pommel Swords

Claíomh

Claíomh (meaning 'sword' in the Gaelic) is a military 'living history' group based in Ireland which re-creates 'live' images of Ireland's past. The aspiration of the group is to spread awareness of Ireland's rich resources of Late Medieval & Early Modern history and archaeology through means of palatable demonstrations and talks with the aid of museum-quality reconstructions.

'BBC Flight Of The Earls'

Historical Era

The group specialises in interpretations of warriors and soldiery c.1480-1660 A.D. of Irish Gaelic lineage (in which we include the galloglasses or gallóglaigh who were originally of Norse-Highland descent although who were by sixteenth-century times largely populated by native Irishmen), seasonal 'redshank' mercenaries from the Scots Highlands/Western Isles, those of Anglo-Irish - or 'Old English' - extraction, and Anglo-Scots Borderers. The period of speciality covered by Claíomh stretches from the last quarter of the fifteenth century with the final death throe of the Wars of the Roses at the Battle of Stoke Field in 1487 - which involved the invasion of England by a combined Hiberno-German force - carrying through to the epoch of the tumultuous sixteenth century under the shadow of the powerful Tudor dynasty, and onwards into the seventeenth century to the end of the Irish Confederate Wars fought in the 1640’s. Particular focus centres round the military personnel who participated in three main areas of study:

Cold Steel

16th century gallowglass

Barryscourt Castle 2009

Lochaber & Claymore

Desmond Castle Kinsale 2008

15th century West Highland swords

Barryscourt 2002

Redshank impression 2003

Morion, sword & steel target

The march to Kinsale...

Targeteer

Kinsale Ensign - Barryscourt 2002

Border Reiver

Dungarvan Confederate

Swedish mercenary: Herr von Hatt

Early 17th century German dagger

BBC shoot at Omagh 2005

Clonteevy axe drawing

Clonteevy reconstruction

Irish 'scian' with Kilcumber sheath

The Great O'Neill

Ó Seóighe agus Ó Fuadacháin: Dunluce, Co Antrim 2005

Senior holding the fort in 2008 at Kilkenny

Early Modern period swords in Dave Swift's collection

Kilkenny Castle 2008

Barryscourt Castle 2008

Competing mercenaries: Gallowglass and Redshank

BBC Flight Of The Earls 2006 on location in Armagh

On the set of BBC Northern Ireland production 'Flight Of The Earls': Benburb, Co Armagh - April 2006